Server Recommendation

[jrog]

I'm looking to build a server for a friend, on the cheap hopefully. Does anyone have any advice?

I'm considering the Shuttle K45, to go with an HDHomerun, a PVR-500, a boot drive, and a single 1TB recording drive, and possibly an HD-PVR.

http://us.shuttle.com/barebone/Models/K45_Spec.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856101064

As for a CPU, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

CPU, 1GB of Ram, and box comes in just under $400. Is there a better approach at that price point?

Does anyone think this will be able to handle 2 or 3 extenders and upwards of 5 tuners? Showanazlyer as well possibly?

I really like the small footprint, and the cost of the box, but also the fact that it's low on the power consumption end. Also, if you only have 2 internal drives, would it be wise to create a partition for the OS, then use the rest for recording, and add a second drive for additional recording space? I guess I'm just curious about performance with that many tuners and playback devices. I have only ever used a raid5 device.

Thanks

[gplasky]

No place for a DVD drive. (You'll have to use external.) I would probably go with 2 GB. (1GB will work.) As long as you're doing all the viewing from extenders you should be fine. But if you plan on watching on the box (especially HD) and a couple of extenders and Showanalyzer (disk intensive) you might have stutter issues as some point. (And maybe not.)

Gerry

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by gplasky

But if you plan on watching on the box (especially HD) and a couple of extenders and Showanalyzer (disk intensive) you might have stutter issues as some point. (And maybe not.)

Gerry

Especially with the HD-PVR. The CPU should be enough to handle the H.264 decode in software but it won't leave a lot of overhead for other processes, and the integrated graphics on that one doesn't offer any decode acceleration.

I'd also verify that that board will take the newer 45nm C2Ds. I didn't think all MBs could, and that one is a fairly old chipset.

[jrog]

Originally Posted by gplasky

No place for a DVD drive. (You'll have to use external.) I would probably go with 2 GB. (1GB will work.) As long as you're doing all the viewing from extenders you should be fine. But if you plan on watching on the box (especially HD) and a couple of extenders and Showanalyzer (disk intensive) you might have stutter issues as some point. (And maybe not.)

Gerry

I would think to use Extenders only, I love the ones I have and they work great. As for the DVD slot, I would just use a USB drive to do the install, and then it would likely sit in a closet or garage 24/7. I do that with my server now, and I find that remote desktop is great for making changes to themes and icons and stuff. I'm mostly concerned with the speed to a single recording disk from a handful of tuners and if this platform would be capable of that, and showanalyzer.

It seems to me that the costs on systems that are capable of doing this kind of work is dropping rather dramatically, and it's getting easier and easier to build a nice, small backend sage server. I have a few friends and family members that want me to build them systems, but they want to keep the price down on the total system cost, without sacrificing usability. It's crazy to think that my parents bought 3 HD tivos and transferred lifetime to one of them back when they first came out, and they have very little flexibility and system integration among them. That's almost $3k in cost and carries monthly fees.

[jrog]

Originally Posted by Djc208

I'd also verify that that board will take the newer 45nm C2Ds. I didn't think all MBs could, and that one is a fairly old chipset.

I believe it does not support the 45nm chips. The 65nm would have to do. There isn't any change in performance though, right? 3.0GHz C2D is what it is. I would think it's just a power efficiency thing.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by jrog

I'm looking to build a server for a friend, on the cheap hopefully. Does anyone have any advice?

I'm considering the Shuttle K45, to go with an HDHomerun, a PVR-500, a boot drive, and a single 1TB recording drive, and possibly an HD-PVR.

http://us.shuttle.com/barebone/Models/K45_Spec.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856101064

As for a CPU, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

CPU, 1GB of Ram, and box comes in just under $400. Is there a better approach at that price point?

Does anyone think this will be able to handle 2 or 3 extenders and upwards of 5 tuners? Showanazlyer as well possibly?

I really like the small footprint, and the cost of the box, but also the fact that it's low on the power consumption end. Also, if you only have 2 internal drives, would it be wise to create a partition for the OS, then use the rest for recording, and add a second drive for additional recording space? I guess I'm just curious about performance with that many tuners and playback devices. I have only ever used a raid5 device.

Thanks

Random thoughts :

* You can get 2 500GB Hard Drives for less than a single 1TB. If the MB supports RAID (most do these days) you also get a performance boost also.
* My first server was built with a E4400 that I ran at 2.6 GHz. It was plenty fast for all the server duties it needed - and it doubled as a client also. Bottom line is you can get a lot less expensive CPU - the Wolfdale 3.0GHz is a great CPU, but you don't need that much power. If you are going to spend $200 on a CPU, I'd go for a QuadCore. Gives you more room to spread the load around, especially once you start doing commercial skipping.
* 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 Ram is about $40 these days. No reason not to get 2GB.

btl.

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by jrog

I believe it does not support the 45nm chips. The 65nm would have to do. There isn't any change in performance though, right? 3.0GHz C2D is what it is. I would think it's just a power efficiency thing.

They are slightly faster (something like 10%), it's not just a die-shrink. But, like the last guy said: just get a Q6600. 65nm, 4 cores, and you should be able to find it for around the same price.